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Among the many curiosities you'll find in the Episodes table below
is this little tidbit: From Season Two through Season Six,
the lowest-rated Final 3 episode (AI5's, at 54.7)
outpolled the highest-rated Finale (AI2's, 54.0).
But upon further review, we suppose that's not all that surprising. AI Finales tend
to be ragged affairs comprising 83 separate commercial breaks,
a few reprise performances, and those always-popular
American Idol Original Winners' Songs™, which the staff
at WNTS.com is convinced are
secretly written by saboteurs hired by rival networks.

On the other hand, a Final 3 episode is truly Must-See TV:
three contestants, three songs apiece, and two tickets to the Kodak Theater on the line.
Each contestant is fresh off an emotional trip home, and each
is forced, for the first time since the Hollywood Round, to perform at least
one song not of his or her own choosing.
The pressure has to be suffocating, but by and large the Idols have
risen to the challenge: nine 5-star performances (including
90-plus ones from
Bo Bice
and
Katharine McPhee),
13 at 4-stars, and just two clocking in at 1-star. The Final Three are usually in it
to win it.

As for the rest of the episodes, about the only advice we can offer is this: never
try to predict whether or not a show will be any good based on its theme. As evidence,
take a look at some of the themes of the highest-rated episodes below.